I know that every mascara can be considered a "hit or miss" product, but wow, the discordant reviews for this product! I've only seen two reactions to L'oreal Voluminous Miss Manga so far: "It's my new HG!" and "It was a wet, spidery mess." I've gotten lazy with trying new mascaras, but coupons and sales netted me a tube of (waterproof) Miss Manga in Blackest Black for $4.99, so why not try it for myself?
Let's get this out of the way: I hate the packaging for most drugstore mascaras, even CoverGirl Clump Crusher (a favorite of mine). I have no idea why the tubes have to be so thick in the middle and so tiny on the bottom; they always fall over and roll away from me. I mean, why the obsession with the round middle and the tiny bottom? Does this do something magical for the mascara? Because if not, that design needs to stop.
On to the brush. It's a tapered fiber brush that picks up a LOT of product. There's no anti-clumping ring on the inside of this mascara, so I had to scrape the brush off a lot. The wand has one of those little joints in it, designed to make it more flexible. Some people hate this, but I'm pretty ambivalent.
The formula is super wet, which resulted in quite a mess along my lash line. Beyond that, though, it was relatively easy to apply: it goes on smoothly without ripping out my lashes, and the tapered point makes it easy to get in to the corners of my eyes. You could also use the point to do your lower lashes, but I like to draw attention away from my dark circles most days, so I passed.
One layer of Miss Manga gave me plenty of length and some volume. It was also a bit clumpy, however; it's clearly one of those mascaras that volumizes by coating the lashes in tons of product and sort of...um...sticking some of them together. Hence, I don't think this is going to be a great choice for people with very sparse lashes.
Two layers added a little more volume and length, but it also made my lashes look spidery and dry. I definitely prefer the look of one coat.
Here are my lashes at the end of the day. (I was kind of lazy about cleaning up my lash line. Apologies.) As you can see, they're still pretty full and long, and the curl hasn't come out. I didn't experience much flaking, just the usual couple of dots that I experience with just about all mascaras.
Overall, I really liked the look of Miss Manga. It's not an every day mascara by any means, but it adds drama and would be great for a night out. What I didn't care for was how messy the formula was, and the fact that I had to wipe the brush off so much. We'll see if I want to repurchase it!
RATING: 4 out of 5
I find that I get so many mascara samples with my makeup purchases, that I can't justify buying a full size tube. But for $4.99 it's worth giving it a try.
ReplyDeleteI always love samples, but I rarely make HE purchases these days. When I do, though, I definitely make good use of the mascara samples!
DeleteI loved it when I first purchased and now that it's drier it's definitely much harder to work with. I didn't mind the wetness (easier to layer over a lengthening mascara imo) but now it drags and clumps like crazy. Bleh.
ReplyDeleteHum...I haven't had it for a whole month yet. We'll see how it goes! Thanks for the warning.
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